You can also send reports and digital image files via email to
nysarc44<at>nybirds<dot>org
If electronic submission is not possible, hardcopy reports and photos
or sketches are welcome. Hardcopy documentation should be mailed to:
Gary Chapin - Secretary
NYS Avian Records Committee (NYSARC)
125 Pine Springs Drive
Ticonderoga, NY 12883
Hotline: New York City Area Rare Bird Alert
Number: (212) 979-3070
Compiler: Tom Burke
Coverage: New York City, Long Island, Westchester County
Transcriber: Gail Benson
[~BEGIN RBA TAPE~]
Greetings! This is the New York Rare Bird Alert for Friday, April 24,
2026 at 11:00 pm.
The highlights of today's tape are TUFTED and HARLEQUIN DUCKS,
CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW, GLAUCOUS GULL, WESTERN CATTLE EGRET, RED-HEADED
WOODPECKER, PROTHONOTARY and YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS, SUMMER TANAGER,
various spring migrants and more.
In a week that once again has not provided the best conditions for
spring migration regionally, our highlights feature among them some
lingering waterfowl, especially the drake TUFTED DUCK still present at
Cammann's Pond Park in Merrick through today, this pond off Lindenmere
Drive, just south of Merrick Road.
Also late are three HARLEQUIN DUCKS spotted today on Long Island Sound
off Duck Pond Point and Beach on the North Fork in Cutchogue.
A nice surprise in Central Park’s Ramble Thursday was a
CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW, observed roosting quietly until it flew off in the
late evening. That same evening over in Prospect Park an EASTERN
WHIP-POOR-WILL was recorded singing shortly after sunset,
interestingly, this followed on Friday evening by two additional
encounters with singing WHIP-POOR-WILLS, one at the Salt Marsh Nature
Center in Brooklyn’s Marine Park and the other in Forest Park, Queens
.
An immature GLAUCOUS GULL continues in Brooklyn, moving between Bush
Terminal Piers Park and the Brooklyn Army Terminal Pier 4, and a young
ICELAND GULL also remains around those piers, both seen through today.
A CASPIAN TERN was spotted today moving up the Hudson River off
Manhattan.
A WESTERN CATTLE-EGRET visited Oakwood Beach on Staten Island last
Sunday and Monday, and an AMERICAN BITTERN paid a visit to Central
Park’s north end on Wednesday.
An adult RED-HEADED WOODPECKER continues its stay at Marshlands
Conservancy in Rye.
On Long Island two RED CROSSBILLS were encountered last Monday at
Rocky Point Pine Barrens State Forest, and two PINE SISKINS visited a
feeder in Mill Neck yesterday.
The lingering Brooklyn Gambel’s-type WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW was still
at Green-Wood Cemetery yesterday.
WARBLER highlights this week featured a PROTHONOTARY visiting Prospect
Park Lake Saturday through Monday, followed by one found today at the
south end of Hempstead Lake State Park, a YELLOW-THROATED discovered
Sunday at Claremont Park in the Bronx and staying there through
Monday, and a HOODED spotted in Prospect Park last Monday. Also
notable, a changing male SUMMER TANAGER was found in Central Park
today.
A decent list of recent arrivals includes RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD,
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, LEAST SANDPIPER, LITTLE
BLUE HERON, EASTEN KINGBIRD, EASTERN WARBLING and RED-EYED VIREOS,
BANK SWALLOW, VEERY, LINCOLN’S SPARROW, ORCHARD ORIOLE, AMERICAN
REDSTART, CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, SCARLET TANAGER and INDIGO BUNTING.
To phone in reports call Tom Burke at (914) 967-4922.
This service is sponsored by the Linnaean Society of New York and the
National Audubon Society. Thank you for calling.
